At Four Aces we can build you a complete, running custom motorcycle. While specializing in Triumphs and other British makes, we also have plenty of experience with Harleys. Below are some examples of custom machines built at Four Aces recently.

Jeff's 45. You may remember Jeff as the owner of the Spiderwebbed bike below. Well Jeff could not get enough of motorcycles when he got his Triumph so he started hanging around and helping me out in the shop. He starts dreaming up another build and this WL project falls into our lap. We make a little progress on it, but don’t get too serious right away. Fast forward a couple months and the Horse Backstreet Choppers taps us to do a “build-off” at their annual Smoke-Out West. We decide to finish the WL project because it has the most “show” potential of anything in the shop. Plus we wanted to show off our Vintage Harley prowess. It took about four months of REALLY hard work to pull it off. We had lots of help from Frank and Andy and Mike Parti and a few others including the soon to be legendary painter Nick-O-Teen. Here is the result. Well we won the Smoke out and a first place trophy at the Grand National Roadster Show as well as an award for “Most Outstanding Use of Color” at the GNRS. The bike is headed for the invitation only Legend of the Motorcycle Show in Half Moon Bay, CA.

The Number 14 Pre Unit was built for David Edwards of Cycle World Magazine, flagship magazine of the industry. In addition to having several modern bikes, David is a discerning collector of vintage customs, as witnessed by his “Behind the 8 Ball” Indian Bob-job and his Mike Parti built Martin swingarmed Triumph Desert Racer. Number 14 started as a crusty broken down period custom from about 1955 and was completely rebuilt using restoration theory, that is break it down to its tiniest pieces and replate, repolish, repaint and reassemble perfectly. This bike is festooned with period perfect touches including the unobtainable Superior upswept pipes, the MCM finned bullet valve inspection caps, the super-rare Flanders risers and original Webco dual carb manifold for 500cc the iron head Triumph 5T. NOTHING on this bike, except maybe the Paul Cox Covered Seat, dates later than 1955. This bike is a restored time capsule. I would love to do another one of these bikes, in a different style of course, so if you want a period perfect Triumph Custom, please email me to discuss prices and time schedules.

Luis Aguirre’s Pre-Unit Hot Rod. Long time friend and customer Luis bought a crusty old pre-unit at a now defunct local swap meet and brought it in for some minor fixing up, but the more we dug into the bike, the more we discovered stuff that needed to be fixed or massaged. The bike had been a funky desert sled with some period chopper parts added later, but it became a neo-hot rod So. Cal styled cruiser. We worship at the alter of the ribbed fender and peanut tank around here and Luis’ bike screamed for this treatment. The muted color design and blacked out front end and wheels were at Luis’ direction. The result of the minimal chrome is a stunning understatement. Rick Grindle’s paint job is the coolest mix of stock 1948 Speed Twin and 1950’s bobber that you will ever see. Wrap the custom made exhaust pipes with hot rod heat wrap and it is something old, and something new. We love our So. Cal Style.

Jeff Leighton’s Unit Custom. Jeff came to the shop wanting a unit construction hardtailed bike and left with a great bike and a part-time job. Jeff did what is probably the best thing you can do when talking to your bike builder. He told me, “I like clubman handle bars and low pipes.” I was to do the rest of the thinking and the building. I remembered doing the “Slimbo” bike several years back at the height of the wide-tired chopper era. I did Slimbo as a protest against all that is fat. I took the general idea of that bike and made something almost as slim, but with some more personality. Jeff is heavily tattooed and he has several choice spiderwebs so we went with a spiderweb theme on this tank, fender and oil bag. Rick grindle painted the bike and laid down some really cool webs after Jeff’s tattoo artist drew them out on the tank. Rick also hand lettered the “Triumph” logo in yellow to match the black and yellow California license plate we had painted up for the bike. I used Jeff’s exhaust pipes as my prototype, soon to be Biltwell produced, exhaust tips on this bike. The result is a slim, trim sleek bike with lots of personality. Check the pipe extensions out at www.biltwellinc.com.

So Cal Style. The Carlos and Carlos Bikes are, by now, pretty well known as the beginning of the So. Cal. Style Revolution. These bikes have won trophies at local shows, appeared in the national and region motorcycle press and turned heads all over the streets of Los Angeles. At Four Aces, we are not saying we were the first guys to build this style of bike, but I like to think that we have gone a long way toward popularizing this variety of custom. They are the epitome of what I consider the best way to build a bike. Take a newer idea, for example bolting a rigid frame rear section to a stock raked 1960s Triumph front frame loop. Almost no one did this in the late sixties or early seventies. Then take timeless touches, like a ribbed fender and a peanut tank, and combine them for maximum neo-custom effect. Add some 60’s showbike flake or rockabilly flat black paint and you have a great combination of something old and something new styled. The same goes for the bike that we built for Matt Irvine. Matt did not want anything too funky, just a traditional looking Triumph hardtail. So that is what we built for him. The results are pretty cool and very traditional with the bigger gas tank, round oil bag and ribbed fender.